Simone Charley

Simone Naomi Charley (born February 4, 1995) is an American professional soccer player and track and field athlete who currently plays for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).[2]

Simone Charley
Personal information
Full name Simone Naomi Charley[1]
Date of birth (1995-02-04) February 4, 1995
Place of birth Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Angel City
Number 7
Youth career
2009–2012 Spain Park High School
Birmingham Legends
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2017 Vanderbilt Commodores 76 (25)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2021 Portland Thorns 30 (5)
2019–2020 → Canberra United (loan) 11 (5)
2021– Angel City 22 (2)
International career
2017 United States U23
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of April 11, 2023

Early years

Charley was born to Sharon and Bobby Charley in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Hoover, Alabama. Her maternal family is originally from Montserrat.[3] She was born into a sports family, her older sister Nicole having been a triple jumper at Auburn, her older brother Myles a triple jumper and long jumper at Troy and her cousin Damian an American football player at Vanderbilt. Charley is a natural athlete herself, and excelled at the high school and university level in both soccer and track and field.[4] During her high school career she won nine state championships in both sports, was named 2011 state Gatorade Player of the Year (soccer) and 2012 Birmingham News Female Athlete of the Year. She also excelled academically.[5][6][7]

College career

Charley attended Vanderbilt University for five years. During that time she was a student-athlete for the Vanderbilt Commodores in soccer, indoor track and outdoor track.[1] Due to her prolific athletic career Charley was named to the 2019 Southeastern Conference Class of Women's Legends.[8] While at Vanderbilt University Charley earned a bachelor's degree with a double-majored in psychology and sociology and a master's degree in medicine, health and society.[9][10]

College soccer, 2013–2017

During her soccer career at Vanderbilt,Charley made 76 appearances and finished with 25 goals and 18 assists. Her 2013 freshman year saw her finish the year as the team's leader in points and goals. She was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll. Charley repeated her team leader in goals her sophomore year and was named to the First Team All-SEC team and Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll. Her 2015-year saw her named to the All-South Region First Team and Second Team All-SEC. Charley redshirted the 2016 season in soccer. She returned to the soccer team for her senior year in 2017. She finished the year as team leader in points. She was named to the Second Team All-SEC and All-Southeast Region and made the Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll.[9]

College Track and Field, 2014–2017

While attending Vanderbilt Charley also competed in both indoor and outdoor seasons of track and field in the triple jump. Her freshman indoor season saw her post the second-best mark on Vanderbilt's all-time performance for the triple jump (41'8.50"). She broke her own school record in the 2014 outdoor season, setting a then lifetime best of (43'2.50"), missing qualification for the IAAF World Championship by one centimetre. She finished her freshman year named to the 2014 Outdoor NCAA Second-Team All-American and 2014 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team. During her sophomore year she again broke both her own indoor and outdoor school record in the triple jump, with jumps of (43'5.25") and (43'8.55") respectively. Indoor she had a fifth best nationally at the time which earned her All-SEC honors. Charley also earned NCAA First-Team All-American honors for both her indoor and outdoor 2015 season. She repeated this double NCAA First Team All-American honors during her junior 2016 seasons. She also again repeated her breaking of her own person and school records with jumps of (44'0") in her indoor season and (45'2.75") during her outdoor season. Her final track season was the 2017 indoor season, where Charley again broke her school and personal record with a triple jump of (44'5.25"). She finished her last season earning a third consecutive indoor NCAA First Team All-American honor.[11][12]

Professional career

Portland Thorns, 2019–2021

Charley went undrafted in the 2018 NWSL College Draft. She was however picked up by the Portland Thorns FC, making the practice squad for 2018 as a non-roster invitee.[13][10] She was signed by the team in May 2019 as a supplemental player.[14][15][16] Charley made her first start for Thorns FC on May 25, 2019, against Sky Blue FC. She provided two assists during her second start against the Chicago Red Stars.[17]

Charley scored her first professional goal during the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, and scored a second goal during the 2020 NWSL Fall Series.[18] On October 30, 2020, Thorns FC announced that the club had offered Charley a new contract.[19] On January 29, 2021, Thorns FC announced that the club had signed Charley to a two-year contract.[18]

Charley scored five goals in 19 appearances in the 2021 season, tied for second most on the team with Christine Sinclair.[20]

Canberra United FC, 2019–2020 (loan)

After the 2019 season, Thorns FC loaned Charley to Australian W-League club Canberra United FC, where Charley scored five goals in 11 appearances.[21]

Angel City, 2021–

On December 8, 2021, Thorns FC traded Charley and forward Tyler Lussi to Angel City FC in exchange for $100,000 in allocation money, a second-round pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft, and immunity from Angel City in the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft.[2][20]

In her 2022 season, Charley scored two regular-season goals and one Challenge Cup goal in 23 total appearances.[22] She also drew two penalties.[22]

On April 11, 2023, Angel City announced that Charley had ruptured an Achilles tendon during a match against Orlando Pride on April 2 and placed her on the team's season-ending injury list.[23]

Career statistics
As of April 11, 2023[24][25]
League Club Season League Cup Playoffs Total
AppsAssistsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
NCAA Vanderbilt Commodores 2013 1755-175
2014 1939-199
2015 1945-22217
2017 1964-194
Total 74182300227625
NWSL Portland Thorns FC
2019 1120-110
W-League Canberra United
2019–20 1115-115
NWSL Portland Thorns FC
2020 -102-102
2021 19054110246
Total 302514310458
NWSL Angel City FC
2022 200230-232
2023 200-20
Total 22023000252
Career total 13721351733215740

Honors and awards

Portland Thorns FC

References
  1. "Simone Charley". Vanderbilt Commodores. May 22, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  2. Odom, Joel (December 8, 2021). "Portland Thorns trade Simone Charley, Tyler Lussi to Angel City FC". The Oregonian. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  3. "My Game: Simone Charley". February 17, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2021. I moved to Alabama when I was 2 years old. I don't remember much. I still have family in Boston, as well, on my dad's side. My mom's side is actually from England, so that is where a lot of them live. Her parents live in Grenada right now. They were both born in Montserrat (a Caribbean island), and they moved to England when my mom was born.
  4. "2013 Soccer signees: Simone Charley". February 22, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  5. "2012 Birmingham News Female Athlete of the Year: Simone Charley, Spain Park". July 4, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  6. "Spain Park's Simone Charley latest in long string of girls Gatorade soccer winners". May 13, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  7. "Spain Park HS senior is a star on and off the field". March 22, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  8. "Charley Named to 2019 Women's Legends Class". January 10, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  9. "Simone Charley". May 22, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  10. "Under the radar: Simone Charley and the NWSL's little-known training players". June 1, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  11. "Simone Charley". May 22, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  12. "Simone Charley". Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  13. "Thorns FC re-sign seven players ahead of 2018 NWSL season". February 18, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  14. "Thorns FC sign three players to supplemental roster". Thorns FC. May 9, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  15. "Simone Charley". NWSL. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  16. Goldberg, Jamie (June 20, 2019). "Contract in hand, Simone Charley is making the most of opportunity with Portland Thorns". The Oregonian. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  17. "Thorns dominate Red Stars in home opener". SBNation. June 2, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  18. Garcia, Kyle (January 29, 2021). "Portland Thorns FC re-signs Simone Charley to two-year deal". Stumptown Footy. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  19. Odom, Joel (October 30, 2020). "Portland Thorns pick up club options on 6 players, offer new contracts to 8 others". The Oregonian. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  20. Brennan, Clare (December 12, 2021). "Simone Charley thanks Thorns after trade to Angel City". Just Women's Sports. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  21. Green, Samuel (March 25, 2020). "Best internationals of 2019/20 – Simone Charley". Keep Up. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  22. Rodriguez, Alicia (November 12, 2022). "Angel City FC 2022 Player Postmortem: Simone Charley". Angels on Parade. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  23. "Angel City Places Simone Charley on Season-Ending Injury List" (Press release). Angel City FC. April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  24. "Simone Charley". National Women's Soccer League. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  25. "Simone Charley". FBref.com. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  26. Snipes, Tyler (August 22, 2021). "The Portland Thorns are WICC Champions!". International Champions Cup.
  27. Rice, Micah (October 17, 2021). "Portland Thorns clinch NWSL Shield with win at Houston". The Columbian. Retrieved April 11, 2023.

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